NorCal Squash Hall of Fame Ceremony, Monday September 30th, 2019

All

After year's of talk, the Northern California Squash Racquets Association is finally following through by creating the NCSRA Squash Hall of Fame.  

The Induction ceremony will be on the evening of Monday Sept 30 at the site of the Oracle Netsuite Open. (nestled between the Women's and Men's Finals)

      The enshrined inductees will be:

Alex Eichmann - the region's dominant singles player in the mid 60's and the early 70"s

Peter Gaynor - University Club member and former President of NorCal

Dick Crawford - former Varsity Coach at Cal and founder of NorCal

Brett Elebash - an unrivaled player in the '80's and in 2001 was the National 45+ Women's Singles Champion]

John Lau - 1991, 1992, National 35+ Men's Singles Champion, 1998 National 40+ Men's Doubles Champion w/ Gordon Anderson

Tom Dashiell -  THE upper crust of NorCal players in the 70's

David Tepper -  another good player in the 70's and former President of NorCal

 

Video of the NorCal HOF Ceremony

They will all be there at the ceremony except for the late Alex Eichmann and the late Peter Gaynor (Eichmann's son Matthew and Gaynor's son Bruce receive there honors.)

What makes this a special group, in addition to being enthusiastic players, is that each inductee served on NorCal's squash board and helping the growth of the game.  

In fact, during their active storied playing years, this group was also administrative leaders - they all served as Presidents of NorCal (except Eichmann who played BEFORE NorCal was formed, and Elebash who served as NorCal Secretary) 

To properly assess the state of affairs, one has to understand the circumstances of that time when the game in NorCal was under the provenance of men.  The reality was that two major clubs which had squash courts in SF, were institutions for ONLY men. Eventually by the late 80's, both Club's relented and began admitting women.

Dick Crawford was the founder of the Association (circa late 60's). Cal also was the Bay Area's incubator of squash talent.  Gaynor had a major role in pushing NorCal into the national spotlight by galvanizing it's membership to get on board to host the 1983 US National Singles Championships. He and other members of the University also had the foresight to build the first double court in the region.

      

With the passing of time, the game is close to losing the players from that period altogether. Players who have been the keepers of squash memories and who would be able to tell the present generation of players, in first person, stories of what was a rich and grand era of squash. The cultural memory of the hardball era of squash is slowing being lost.

It would be a shame if it was lost, because when we lose historical and institutional memory, we lose ourselves. Who can even attempt to make sense of the present without consulting history and the models taken from the past to guide us?

It was a gilded age of squash in Northern California. 

Well worth remembering, coveting, and celebrating!

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